David Hughes is the Daily Telegraph's chief leader writer. He has been covering British politics for 30 years.

Rarely has there been quite so damning a verdict from a House of Commons committee. The investigation into phone hacking at News International by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has uncovered a systematic attempt to mislead Parliament. According to the report, Rupert Murdoch is "is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company." The media mogul had exhibited "wilful blindness" to what was going on in his media empire. And some of his most senior executives had deliberately deceived MPs.

The only problem with the report is that not one of the Tory MPs on the select committee voted for it. The committee split down the middle on party lines. Labour MPs, led by Tom Watson, Murdoch’s self-appointed nemesis, appear to have pushed things too hard in an attempt to damn News International and its bosses and all their works. As a consequence, the opportunity to present a united front on a matter of deep public concern has been wasted. One thing they are agreed on is that Parliament was misled by three senior News International executives – Les Hinton, Tom Crone and Colin Myler are all singled out for criticism. But that criticism will be blunted because Labour went over the top because of its obsessive loathing for the Murdoch empire.